Kanithan

My review: Kanithan

There are some movies which you would like very much and certain others which you would hate right away. But there are certain category of movie which you neither like nor hate that you end up being apathetic towards it. That feeling or rather lack of it was what I felt while watching "Kanithan". T.N. Santosh debuts as  the writer cum director of this movie which stars Atharva and Catherine Tresa in the lead. 

The movie deals with an important social theme that might be relevant in the today's world but somehow you feel a sense of dejavu right through the it. Though the screenplay seem to brisk and a lot of things happen in each frame, you feel that the movie is running for a really long time. Though the movie have actors who perform well with their histrionic ability you don't feel the emotional connect with whatever is happening to them. So at the end you come out with a numb feeling that it is really hard to explain what would have went wrong.

Take for instance the scene which lead onto the suicide of one of the characters in the movie. The whole sequence is a throwback to the bygone era of 80's. The whole tit for tat game between the protagonist and the antagonist is from the era of vigilante movies of the 90's. The dialogues that both the protagonist and antagonist mouth are basically the directors attempt is trying to explain to the audience the most mundane of things which are pretty obvious for any average movie watcher. May be the manner in which the director has underestimated the intelligence of the viewers must have a thing or two about why the movie doesn't instill that "wow" feeling while watching it.   

Atharva is earnest in his role but he seem to be mimicking Vijay is many sequences, be it in the comical or the mass action ones. Catherine Tresa is fit in the dimwitted heroine role who is relegated to an extra in the second half. Tarun Arora tries hard to instill fear but instead brings out only chuckles. 

"Yappa chappa" is a delightful fun number from Sivamani. Other than that rest of the songs are duds. Chinna's background score is mediocre. It could have been a memorable debut for T.N.Santosh if he had thought like the contemporary movie makers in his scripting and execution. Instead his hangover of the 80's and 90's way of going about things has severely marred the movie's final impact.

Bottomline: Apathetic action thriller.

2.5/5